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Canada got the last hurrah at the Celebration of Light Saturday evening, closing the three-night event with a winning display. Canada was declared the winner of the event, with Brazil and China finishing second and third, respectively.

Whitecaps ‘going to be aggressive,’ take Impact-ful chances in desperate drive for MLS playoff berth

'We’ve got players who can score goals. We just need to get them scoring again'

That was then, but this is now: Vancouver Whitecaps scoring leaders Camilo (left, 14 goals) and Kenny Miller (seven) have gone five straight games without a goal.

Photograph by: DARRYL DYCK
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER — The last time the Vancouver Whitecaps went into Montreal, they played kitty-bar-the-door soccer and essentially got the result they were looking for: a draw, 0-0, in the opening leg of the Amway Canadian championship.

Now, desperately needing a win to keep their Major League Soccer playoff hopes alive, the Caps will have to play a more open game this Saturday and find some way to jump-start a flagging offence.

“I think it’s a completely different approach,” says midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker. “That was a different game. We stuck to the game plan the manager had to do at the time, for his own reasons.

“Right now, we’re in a situation where we know we need to get points on the board. We’ve going to be aggressive with every team we face and we’re going to try to impose ourselves on them.”

Reo-Coker, the Caps’ most influential midfielder, was dropped into the right fullback spot against the Impact, centre back Brad Rusin played as a holding midfielder, defensive-minded midfielder Matt Watson was slotted into the starting lineup and the Caps basically just tried to put up a defensive wall.

Just a single point on Saturday, however, would leave the Caps in dire straits with five regular-season games remaining. So a once-potent attack that has been blanked three times in the past five games, including a 0-0 draw in San Jose last Saturday, must find its finishing touch again.

“I think the one thing about the last game is that we got a lot of numbers forward so when the ball was wide we had quite a lot of players in the box,” said head coach Martin Rennie. “We have to keep doing that.

“And when we’re in the final third, we need to make good choices. There was a couple of times where maybe there was people open that we could have found and maybe they would have had a better chance to finish.

“We’ve got players who can score goals. We just need to get them scoring again.”

Scoring leaders Camilo (14 goals) and Kenny Miller (seven) have gone five straight games without a goal. After stretches in which they rarely looked dangerous and were often sloppy with their possession and passing, both forwards did a better job at those parts of the game in San Jose.

But with few other Caps scoring with any consistency this season, it’s crucial that Camilo and Miller regain their full form and start filling the net again.

While Vancouver’s primary focus in Montreal will be on getting the three points needed to move up the standings, there is an underlying story line to the matchup. And that is the rivalry between the two clubs in Canadian championship play over the last few years.

This season, the Caps looked to be in a good position to earn their first Amway title after that 0-0 draw in Montreal in the first leg of the final. In the second leg at BC Place Stadium in late May, the Caps twice took one-goal leads only to have the Impact tie the game 2-2 with six minutes remaining off a corner kick.

With the aggregate score a tie, Montreal claimed the championship on the basis of away goals. And the dispirited Caps had to watch as the Impact hoisted the trophy and joyously celebrated on the BC Place turf.

“We owe them one for losing the championship,” said Reo-Coker. “But at the same time it’s important that we stay focused on getting some points for the playoff position.”

“We know it’s a big rivalry between the Whitecaps and Montreal,” said Rennie. “But revenge really isn’t possible because that Canadian Cup is gone and the disappointment is something we have to deal with separately.

“I just think there’s so much motivation for this game. It’s not so much about revenge, but it’s much more about taking a step forward and getting ourselves into the playoffs.”

Vancouver captain Jay DeMerit, who missed the Canadian championship games while rehabbing an Achilles tendon rupture, says that failure to win the title was a tough blow for the organization, but he doubted payback would be on many players’ minds on Saturday.

“I think this game is almost even more important,” he said. “You talk about would you rather make the playoffs or win the Canadian championship, I don’t know. I think guys would probably rather win the playoffs.

“So I think this game is even bigger. For us, it shouldn’t take us much to get excited for this game, and get prepared and make sure we’re all on the same page doing the right things.”

CORNER KICKS: Doing the right things was an issue at practice Wednesday as the main session ended with the players getting a dressing down from the coaching staff, in particular assistant Paul Ritchie, who delivered an expletive-laced tirade about the lack of intensity and focus. “Today, in training wasn’t as good as we would have liked and we were just pointing that out,” said a diplomatic Rennie.

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